Works by Levitan and Other Masters to be Auctioned in Moscow

On March 1, the Moscow Auction House will host its spring auction, featuring works by renowned artists such as Isaac Levitan, Ilya Repin, Ivan Aivazovsky, Kuzma Petrov-Vodkin, and many other masters from the 18th to 20th centuries. In total, over 150 works of art will be up for bidding. According to the auction house’s press service, the total estimated value of the collection is around 1 billion rubles.

Highlighted lots in the upcoming auction include “Moonrise. Village” from 1898 by Levitan and “Moonlit Night in Crimea” from 1861 by Aivazovsky, which bears the artist’s signature. The estimated values of these pieces are 50 million and 60 million rubles respectively.

It is known that Levitan’s painting previously belonged to the famous Soviet scientist and inventor of the first remote-controlled mines, Vladimir Mitkevich. It has been exhibited twice at the Tretyakov Gallery — in 1938 and 1960, as well as at the Russian Museum in 1960-1961. Art historian and collector Sergey Podstanitsky noted that this landscape is rendered in Levitan’s characteristic style.

Among more than twenty portraits that will also be auctioned, “Narcissus” from 1917 by Repin stands out, with a reserve price of 45 million rubles. This painting was previously part of the collection of lawyer and philanthropist Vasily Levi, and later it was housed in the Stiftelsen Jämtlands läns Konstförening gallery in Switzerland.